In 1999, a study revealed that the preservative thimerosal, a mercury-containing compound present in many vaccines, caused several infants to have levels of mercury in their blood that exceeded guidelines recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Preservatives are used in vaccines to reduce the risk of contamination by bacteria once the vial is opened. 

Exposure to high levels of mercury, especially in the developing child before birth, is associated with neurological disturbances. Therefore, parents began to fear that thimerosal may cause neurological difficulties, like autism.

When this study was first described, physicians, scientists, and public health officials quickly assessed the situation and found that:

Natural infection with certain viruses can weaken the immune system. So when children are infected with one virus, they can’t fight off other viruses or bacteria as easily. 

This happens most notably during natural infection with chicken pox or measles. Children infected with chicken pox are susceptible to certain bacterial infections (MRSA or flesh-eating bacteria, for example). 

Children infected with measles are more susceptible to bacterial infections (resulting in sepsis) of the bloodstream. 

But vaccines are different.

It is true that natural infection almost always causes better immunity than vaccination. In fact, only the Hib and tetanus vaccines are better at inducing immunity than natural infection.

Natural infection causes immunity after just one infection, but vaccines usually create immunity only after several doses over a period of time.

The Myth - Infants are too young to get vaccinated.

The Truth - It’s very important to make sure that infants are fully immunized against certain diseases by the age of six months.

There’s a news story out this week about a Coast Guard officer who was told that he must take a vaccine that was derived based on tissue from an unborn child that had been aborted. 

The officer refused the vaccine based upon his religious beliefs that abortion is wrong.

After a lawsuit was filed by the Alliance Defense Fund, the Coast Guard decided to allow a religious exemption.

“Members of our military should never have to choose between honoring their country and honoring their faith,” argued ADF attorneys in the case of Coast Guard officer Joseph Healy.

I agree with my friend, Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, who said, “We applaud the military for recognizing that Healy is deserving of the same freedoms that he has spent his career defending.” 

But, what about parents who face this same decision when immunizing their children.

Is it true that there are vaccines derived from aborted babies?

And, if so, should parents who believe abortion is wrong refuse these vaccines?

Despite what is often falsely reported in the media and at many scaremongering web sites, all recommended vaccines are extraordinarily safe. 

When you consider that the 3.5 to 4 million children born every year in the United States receive more than twenty different vaccines to protect them from at least eleven different preventable diseases by the time they are six years old, and that some of these vaccines have existed for more than fifty years, I think you’ll agree that the record of vaccine safety in this country is remarkable.

A huge story is breaking today, about what the Washington Post is calling “the largest resurgence” of measles since 2001.

This story should, by itself, put this myth to rest.

And, the story is unfolding in 10 states, with at least 72 people ranging from infants to the elderly becoming ill. And all but one of them were unvaccinated.

This is the second entry in a series from my book God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Child.

Probably the best recent example of the positive impact of vaccines is the Hib vaccine, which prevents meningitis, ear infections, and other serious infections caused by the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib).

When the current Hib vaccine was introduced to this country in 1990, Hib was the most common cause of bacterial meningitis.

For decades, Hib had caused approximately 15,000 cases of meningitis and 400 to 500 deaths every year. After the current Hib vaccine was introduced, the incidence of Hib meningitis declined to fewer than fifty cases per year—typical of all widely used vaccines.

Tuesday, in my weekly interview with Mark Elfstrand on WMBI in Chicago, a woman called to inquire about the risk of autism from vaccinations.

It reminded me of a chapter from my book, God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Child, in which I discuss a number of myths about vaccinations. This week, I’ll start a multipart series on a dozen or more of these common myths and misperceptions.